Monday, May 26, 2008

I had plans for a badge system but didn't want to add it to the game right now. However, I guess Golemizer was laking "Dings", which drive players and keep them playing until the next "Ding", content.Until then, Golemizer was only (if you forget about the casual housing, chatting that some might enjoy as a graphic chatroom) a competitive game, actions coming from the players to battle for the best ranks. I guess that was a bad bet. It wasn't obvious what could be done, where the fun was unless players figured on their own "Hey, I want to be the top ranked player".

Basically, there was nothing obvious to do. So the badge system combined with the new commands I added to the AI are now allowing me to build what you can call quests (I prefer challenges).

The first challenge that I just finished is the crafting tutorial. The first version of the tutorial was only an NPC telling you the basics of crafting. The new NPC is more an interactive guide that teach the player each steps of crafting while keeping track of progress.

Step 1: The NPC tells the player to train the skills needed to craft a forge. When the skills are learned, the NPC will switch to step 2.

Step 2:The NPC teach the player how to gather resources and tell him which resources to gather to craft a forge. Once all resources are gathered, the NPC switch to step 3.

Step 3:The NPC teach the player how to craft a forge, drop his free house he was given on account creation and how to drop the forge in the house. Once the forge is crafted, the NPC switch to step 4

Step 4:The NPC tells the player which steps to follow to finally craft his first golem (a clockwork gnome) using the forge to craft the parts needed. Once the clockwork gnome is crafted, the NPC switch to step 5.

Step 5:The tutorial is completed and the player crafted his first golem while learning about the basic systems of the game. The player receives a badge (Crafting tutorial completed), prestige points and some gold (I might throw in a special item too like something to decorate the house or something).

At any time, the NPC can tell which steps have been completed so a player could complete steps 1 to 3 then logout and continue another time. Once the challenge is completed, it cannot be done again (at least this one).

Here are some examples of challenges I can/will add to the game with the new commands. More challenges type will come as I get time but this should be a good start to help spring some interest in the game and possibly lead the players to their own challenges instead of leaving them alone with no clue of what to do:

Like I said, it's just a start but it now gives players some goals to achieve instead of just having players rankings.

Oh, one cool new item too. The frequency analyzer which connect to You Tube and allow players to set videos in it. While this can be used to put some random content in your house, it's also a first way to allow players to possibly create their own content (might be nice for RP!).